28 | MARCH 2 • 2023 

OUR COMMUNITY

G

esher Human Services, 
a nonprofit that helps 
Metro Detroiters with 
barriers to employment find jobs, 
is collaborating with Detroit’s 
College for Creative Studies 
(CCS) to offer participants in its 
vocational Skill Building Program 
the opportunity to explore vary-
ing disciplines of art in a semes-
ter-long program.
Gesher’s Skill Building Program 
provides Metro Detroiters with 
intellectual and developmental 
challenges vital skills to help them 
become more integrated into the 
community through meaningful 
volunteer and other work.
The new collaboration with 
CCS brings participants from its 
program to the college one day a 
week to explore fields of art. 
In a separate collaboration with 
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 
(DSO), participants go to the 
Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher 
Music Center once a week to 
meet with a certified music thera-
pist along with DSO musicians. 

Over the next three months, 
participants will learn about 
music as a profession, learn how 
to play various instruments, 
choose music they would like 
to perform, and plan for a per-
formance where they will be 
accompanied by DSO musicians 
in front of an audience. 
“With the CCS program, our 
goal is to make our participants 
aware of the many different 
careers in art and design and 
show how these relate to everyday 
life, whether it’s animation they 
see on television or the design on 
a pair of gym shoes,
” explained 
Gesher Human Services’ VP of 
Vocational Services Lillie Sorrell. 
“With the DSO, our partic-
ipants, who are often artistic 
and musical, have the chance to 
explore music in depth and deter-
mine what forms of music they 
enjoy most, and perhaps discover 
instruments they would like to 
learn. Everyone attending has the 
chance to explore career fields 
in art and music they might not 

Gesher Human Services Skill Building Program participants get 
a chance to work with Detroit’s College for Creative Studies and the DSO.

Exploring the Arts

ALISON SCHWARTZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

COURTESY OF GESHER

ABOVE: Music group at the DSO learning about percussion and rhythm. 
BELOW: Participants give the art and music programs a big thumbs-up.

